David Jaffe in "Conversations with Business Leaders"

Join us on Sunday, May 4 to hear David Jaffe as the 6th annual Conversations with Business Leaders speaker. David is President and CEO of Ascena Retail Group, Inc., a leading specialty retailer of apparel for women and tween girls. Ascena generates $5 billion in annual sales, and operates nearly 4,000 stores across the U.S. and Canada.

David began his retail career with Dress Barn in 1992, and became President and CEO in 2002. David spearheaded the transition of Dress Barn from an off-price discount store to a lifestyle specialty-store brand. That success led to three successful mergers: the first with Maurices in 2005, followed by Justice in 2009, and the most recent one with Lane Bryant and Catherines in 2012. The parent company was renamed Ascena Retail Group, Inc. in 2011.

David’s previous experience was as a General Partner of Chemical Venture Partners, a private equity firm, and as a portfolio manager at Merrill Lynch. He received his BS/BA from the Wharton School/University of Pennsylvania and a MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is a Director of the National Retail Federation and the Baker Retailing Center at the Wharton School. David also serves as a Trustee of the Connecticut Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. He lives with his wife and four children in New Canaan, CT.